HAO
by Akujiki
Summary: In 2022, mankind finally built a full virtual environment. The gaming company Argus created the first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) HAO (Hunter art online). But there is a dark twist to this game... (Open to suggestions)
1. Chapter 1: the world of HAO

**Hello one and all. I have been planning to write this story for such a long time now and I finally bought a new computer! I'll be sure to upload new chapters of this story every few days. Disclaimer: I don't own Sword art online, Rwby, or any other games, anime, books, shows, cartoons, etc. that I mention in this story. **

In 2022, mankind finally built a full virtual environment. The gaming company Argus created the first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). The game was played using the NerveGear, a special virtual reality helmet which allows players to enter a complex virtual world that feels like the real thing. On the Sunday of November sixth, Hunter Art Online was released in all the kingdoms of Remnant. The game was based off of the hunters/huntresses from all over. It allowed hunters, huntresses, and even those that had never picked up a weapon before to experience the everyday life of a hunter against the grimm. At least ten thousand copies of the game had already sold out, and long lines to get the game had formed at game shops almost everywhere days before the official release. It seemed clear that the game was already going to be a hit.

At 3:00 p.m., a 14 year old young man by the name of Kazuto Kirigaya was reading over an article in the new magazine going over the technology that is the nerve gear by Hunter Art Online's director Akihiko Kayaba. While reading, he watched a news report of the new MMO stream on the new game.

'Hi there! Time for this week's MMO stream, you just watched a promo for today's featured game! And this is what last week's launch day looked like. Can you guess what everyone's waiting in line for? Hunter Art Online! The first person in line said he camped out for three days! Hey, but if you're a hardcore gamer, that's what you do. On today's episode of the MMO stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Hunter Art Online, A.K.A. HAO. Up to now, none of the nerve gear software's have taken the advantage of the possibilities of the hardware!'

As the report continued on, Kazuto decided to shut it off and prepared to enter the game himself. He quickly placed the new game in his computer and placed the NerveGear helmet on his head and laid down in his bed.

"Link Start!" The world around him vanished and he felt himself flying through a color stream. He was transported into the NerveGear's login screen. He signed in to his account that he used when he beta tested this game 'Kirito'. Soon after he was standing in the middle of the town of beginnings in the form of his in-game avatar, Kirito. His avatar was a bit taller than his original self, and he looked a lot older, too. The town itself was like a city from the middle ages, and was already packed with all the new players appearing. He walked through the shopping stalls where tons of new players gathered around. He saw a variety of people around. Many of the people he saw where smiling and cheering that they bought this game, some, he saw, where confused on how to even open a menu. But the thing he saw most was everyone joining in parties. He stayed around for a while, handing out the guide books that he and the other Beta testers created for the short time they had in the game. Once he was out, he took off through the crowd.

As Kirito made his way through the crowd of players, he heard someone yell behind him. "Hey bro! Wait up!" he slowed himself to a stop and turned around to see a man with long red hair and a bit of beard on his chin running towards him. He had on a red and yellow headband with a long-sleeved white shirt, brown leather chest armor and brown pants.

"What's up?" Kirito asked. The man stopped to catch his breath for a moment, "Whew, you look like you knew your way around here. You were in the beta test, weren't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool! Today's my first day playing this game. Sooo, could you give me some tips on the lower floors?" He quickly asked

Kirito was a bit hesitant with helping out a new player. He just got back into the game and wanted to already make his way to the first boss. "Yea, I don't know if-"

"Aw please! I'm begging ya!" The man cut him off. "Look, my name's Klein, good to meet ya." Kirito thought for a moment 'eh, it's not like I have anything better to do at the moment.'

"Alright, I'm Kirito."

"You guys wouldn't mind if i joined you as well, right?" Kirito turned around and recognized the voice from someone he handed one of the manuals to.

"Oh, hey Ruby."

* * *

><p>Ruby Rose couldn't believe it. One of the world's greatest games ever made was released to the public only a few hours ago, and only 10,000 copies were sold... And she couldn't get one. She waited in line for so long, only for the guy in front of her to get the last game. Her older sister Yang Xiao Long had come by to give her a ride back to beacon when she heard the news. She saw her younger on the corner with hundreds of others weeping for the fact that it was sold out. She got off her motorcycle and patted Ruby on the back.<p>

"Come on," she said, "I'll take you home and we can have some cookies." Ruby dramatically flopped onto her back and groaned.

"It's not fair! How could they only have 10,000 copies of one of the best games ever made!?"

Yang sighed. Of course she wanted the game as well. Both she and Ruby saved up money for months to buy a NerveGear system and for the game. It was not only supposed to be a game about being a hunter/huntress, a dream they both strived to become, but also a place to meet new friends from across the globe. The game sold 2,500 copies in the kingdoms of Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacou. She got her sister up on her feet and they started to head back to beacon until Ruby's scroll started to ring. She opened it to find that she received a message from the headmaster himself, Professor Ozpin.

'Ms. Rose. Meet me in my office when you have returned to beacon.'

"Ooh, Ruby's in trouble!" Yang teased.

"Shut up! You don't even know what he's going to say."

"Let's get going, you don't want Ozpin angry." Ruby nodded and they both got on Yang's bike.

-15 minutes later-

Ruby arrived in Ozpin's office soon after they returned. It was a large room, filled with book cases and a dark green wall.

"Ah, Miss Rose, thank you for meeting here." she turned to see Ozpin walking around one of the bookshelves with a book and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"If you don't mind Professor, why did you ask me to come here?" she asked nervously.

"As you may already know, your grades in Professor Ports class have been dropping recently, care to tell me why?" Ozpin asked. Ruby was embarrassed, she didn't want to tell him, but she had to.

"Well, I guess I've been zoning out a lot, a new game was recently released and-"

"You must be referring to this game, HAO. I believed they called it." he pulled out a copy of the game from his coat pocket. Ruby was stunned, to say the least. 'Why would the professor have the game?' she thought.

"I bet your wondering why i bought the game. Recently, I learned that the other academies from Vacou, Mistral, and Atlas have sent in their best students to play the game as a representative. I thought it would help also be a simulation for those who want to become a hunter or huntress. I would have chosen one of the seniors for this project, but seeing as you need the extra credit, and your talent as a huntress, would you like to be the representative for beacon academy?" He smirked.

Ruby's jaw hit the floor and she was speechless. 'Extra credit for playing a video game!?' she quickly nodded yes. "Well alright." He handed her the game and a NerveGear and she shot off to her room, using her semblance to pick up speed. She plugged the helmet into Weiss' expensive looking new computer. "I'm sure she won't mind if I play on it for an hour." she thought out loud. She put the game in the disk tray and put the helmet on. When she turned on the NerveGear, she saw a message appear on the screen.

[HELLO, AND WELCOME TO THE NERVEGEAR. PLEASE PAT AROUND YOURSELF SO THE NERVEGEAR CAN GET YOUR MEASUREMENTS]

She was a bit confused, but saw no harm in it.

[THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. TO ACTIVATE YOUR GAME 'Hunter Art Online' ALL YOU NEED TO SAY IS THE COMMAND "LINK START"]

"Link start!" The world around her vanished as she flew through a color stream to be transported into the NerveGear's login screen and she saw 3 options.

[LOGIN]

[CREATE ACCOUNT]

[EXIT]

She clicked on the [CREATE ACCOUNT] button and was brought to the character creation screen. There wasn't much to choose from, but she ended up making a taller version of herself with a black shirt, red leather armor, and a combat skirt.

{ARE YOU SURE YOU'VE FINISHED YOUR CHARACTER?}

[YES]

[NO]

She clicked the [YES] button.

{CREAT YOUR USERNAME}

She thought about it for a minute, and decided to try her own name. To her surprise, it wasn't taken yet.

[THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING HUNTER ART ONLINE, PLEASE WAIT]

Soon after, the game loaded up and she was transported into the town square. She looked down at her hands and felt them. 'This feels so real! It's so... So...'

"AWESOME" she shouted.

"Excuse me." she heard from behind her.  
>She turned around to see a young man with black hair, a blue shirt and brown leather armor with a sword strapped to his back.<p>

"Yes?" she asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather book and handed to her.

"My names Kirito. I was one of the beta testers for this game. We created these books as guides for all the newer players in the game so they can start right away."

"Thanks! My name is Ruby." she replied "So you got to beta test this game?"

"Yea, its pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Listen, I have to go, so good luck with the game!" He said before he took off.

"Thank you! ... Hey wait! How do I open the menu!?" She tried but to no avail. He couldn't hear her. She decided to look into the guide he gave her.

(Page one: opening the menu)

"Well that was convenient." she smiled.

(Raise your right arm and pull it back down)

She followed the instructions and was surprised to see the menu pop up in front of her face. Even more to her shock, she already had a message. She clicked on it.

Dear Miss Rose, i hope you like the new game! Oh and don't worry about a weapon. I had something sent to your account from Argus. It should come with a large number of upgrades, so you could use it throughout the game.

Sincerely, Ozpin

She closed the message and opened up her inventory to find one item unselected.

/Crescent Rose\

"No way!" She exclaimed. She clicked on it and felt a familiar weight on her back. She reached back and pulled out a black and red scythe from her back. She was in awe on how Ozpin managed to get the measurements of crescent rose completely right. It even had the sniper rifle form! She saw that she was gathering some weird looks from the crowd, some were in awe of the weapon, some were jealous. She didn't want to make a scene so she took off. She found some sort of downside to the game; they didn't have any aura, so she couldn't use her semblance. Once she was clear of the crowd, she opened up the manual again.

(Page 2: Hunting)

She read through on how there was various amounts of grimm in this game. There apparently was a spot nearby the Town of Beginnings to hunt boarbatusk and decided to go there. She turned the corner and saw a couple of people talking.

"Aw please! I'm begging ya!" The man with Red hair said. "Look, my name's Klein, good to meet ya." She looked at the other guy and recognized him as the beta tester from earlier.

"Alright, I'm Kirito."

"You guys wouldn't mind if i joined you as well, right?" Kirito turned around and recognized the voice from someone he handed one of the manuals to.

"Oh, hey Ruby."

* * *

><p>Kirito decided to bring Klein and Ruby out the nearby field to practice. Soon after their arrival, they were attacked by one of the game's low-level monsters. It was a grimm called a boarbatusk. Kirito asked Ruby if she wanted to go first but she asked if she could watch. Klein decided to step in attacked the beast by wildly swinging his curved sword, but his attack plan was off. The grimm on the other hand was doing quite well. It tackled Klein to the ground and caused his HP gauge to drop slightly. Klein dramatically dropped to the ground, hunching over while holding his stomach and groaning. Ruby giggled as she knew they couldn't feel any pain.<p>

"Oh come on, seriously? You can't feel any pain" Kirito told him.

"Oh yeah, your right. Sorry, habit." he apologized.

"Remember what I said? The first move is the most important."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. He won't stand still!" Klein was frustrated. If he couldn't beat this monster, how could he progress through the game?

Kirito was thinking of a way he could teach Klein how to fight. He looked down and saw a pebble and grabbed it. Ruby and Klein watched intently. "If you do your initial motion right," Kirito brought back the pebble as it started to hum and glow, "and activate a sword skill at the right time," He chucked the pebble at the boarbatusk and it rocketed forward and it smacked the grimm in the back. It didn't do much damage, but it seemed to make the boar angry. "The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target."

"Initial...motion?" Klein asked. The boar started to try and attack Kirito, only for him to keep dodging its attacks.

"Here's an easier way to look at it. Right after you start your move, wait for a little bit. Once you feel the skill start to activate, drive it home!" He blocked the boars attack and held it back as Klein imitated the pose Kirito made and held his sword up to his shoulder. The blade began to glow and hum, and Kirito pushed the grimm away and kicked its backside, causing it to turn to its previous target. The boar charged at the Klein just as he had fully powered up his sword skill. With a single slash, the creature was cut in half and shattered apart into polygons made of blue light.

"Yeaaaa!" Klein enthusiastically screamed. He finally did it! He beat the monster and felt pride in his accomplishment. He turned to see Ruby clapping and Kirito with a smile on his face.

"Congratulations." Kirito walked over and high-fived Klein. "That was nice, but that grimm was about as weak as slimes in minecraft."

"Holy crap you've got to be kidding! I thought that thing was a mid-level boss!"

Kirito smirked and pointed to a nearby hill. Many more boarbatusks started to spawn. He looked back at Klein and Ruby, who was training with some of the sword and scythe skills.

"Hey Ruby, where did you get that scythe anyways? It's not like anything I've seen in this game." Kirito was curious the first time he saw it, but he felt that it would be better to ask now. "Yea man, where did you get that thing" Klein asked.

Ruby realized why now that she was getting those looks from earlier. "Oh yea, I guess I forgot." she said nervously and scratched the back of her head. "I'm a huntress in training attending beacon academy. Professor Ozpin wanted me here to represent the skills of my school. He had Argus design my weapon exactly how my real weapon is IRL." Now it was Kirito and Klein's turn to be shocked. They've heard about beacon, it is one of the most prestigious hunting academies across the globe! And she was a student there.

"That's amazing!" Klein shouted. "But why the scythe? Isn't that considered one of the most dangerous melee weapons you could use?"

She smiled and twirled the scythe around in her hand until it turned into its compact form. "My uncle trained me since i was little. Only few people know what it takes to master wielding a scythe." she showed them its sniper rifle form as well, easily killing the nearby boars with one shot. The only thing the two of them could do was watch in awe as she quickly leveled up to level 2.

* * *

><p>The afternoon continued on as Kirito showed his new friends around. By the time the sun had begun to set, the three of them had made it to level 5 and reached top of a hill overlooking a vast valley below.<p>

"When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game! Whoever made it's a genius." Klein said.

"I know what you mean," Said Ruby, "This is by far the coolest game I've ever played! The Elder Scrolls series doesn't even come near to this!"

Kirito chuckled at both of their antics. "It's not that big a deal." They both scowled at him.

"Cut me some slack, it's my first full dive!"  
>Klein informed him.<p>

"Don't be such a downer." Ruby said.

"You guys have never used a nerve gear before?" He asked. They both shook their heads.

"Nope"

"Nah, as soon as i got the money, I bought the NerveGear and waited in line for days. I scored one of the 10,000 copies. I guess you could say i was pretty lucky. Although, you sir were 10x as lucky getting to beta test it. Only 1,000 people got the chance."

Kirito never really thought about it until now. "Yeah, I guess I was lucky, huh?"

Ruby shot up from where she was laying down. "Extremely lucky! I never even was able to get the game! The only reason I'm playing right now is because my professor gave one of these to me."

Kirito smiled "Anyway, you guys want to do some more hunting?"

"You know it!" Klein stood up. "But the thing is, I'm really hungry, I need to log out."

"I kind of need to log out as well, I borrowed my friend's computer for this and she is probably yelling at me right now." Ruby smiled nervously. Klein gave her a look, a look that Ruby was a little familiar with at the guys at her school.

"So, i was thinking, you want to tell me where you live? We could go hang out IRL if you'd like." Klein asked.

"I'm flattered Klein. But i don't really know you that well. Plus, you're probably a lot older than me." She replied

"But you said you were attending beacon, right? That makes you, what, 17?"

She shook her head "Nope. I'm sort of a special case. I skipped two years because of my skills with a scythe. If you would like to meet someone, you could ask my sister-"

"Whoa, you have a sister? What's she like? How old is she? How big are her boo-" His questions were cut short as Ruby kicked him in the balls. Kirito laughed at Klein as he dramatically went down and held his crotch until realization dawned on him.

"Oh yeah, getting kicked in the balls doesn't hurt."

"Sorry, but you weren't giving me any space and asking too many personal questions." Ruby apologized.

Klein held up his hand, signaling it was alright. "It's fine, I was being a bit of a perv anyway. Sorry about that."

"If you really want to meet her, i was going to see if she wanted to log on in a minute." Klein's mood brightened a bit.

"Well, it's probably about time that I logged out anyway." Klein decided. "I ordered a pizza earlier. It should be at my place any minute now."

"I guess I'll see you guys around then." Kirito replied.

"Yea man. Thanks again for showing me the ropes." Klein told him.

"I'll be sure to add you guys to my friends list." Ruby said. She opened up her menu and sent both of them a friend request. They both clicked [ACCEPT]

"See ya later, Kirito." With that, both Klein and Ruby waved their hands to open the holographic menu screen. But as they scrolled down to the bottom, a look of distress appeared on his face.

"Hey Kirito, total noob question but, where's the logout button?" Klein asked.

"I can't find it either"

"What?" Kirito responded.

"Hey, are you able to log out?" Klein asked.

Kirito checked his own menu screen. Just like theirs, the logout button was gone. He was frozen in a moment of fear.

"Looks like it's the same with me too." Kirito admitted.

"Oh what, today's the first day out of beta? There's bound to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now." Klein joked. Kirito looked at the time.

"You will too. Look, its 5:25" Realization dawned upon Klein.

"Oh my god! My teriyaki meal pizza and ginger ale!" Klein was freaking out, he would miss pizza time!

"Why don't you try calling the game master and see what's up?" Kirito asked.

"Already tried," said Ruby, "Nothing's happening, he's not picking up. Do you know if there's another easy to log out of this thing?"

Kirito thought back to the beta test. The only time he ever logged out was when he used the logout button or when his mother pulled it off his head for when he had to eat dinner. The felt anxiety as he realized they couldn't log out.

"No, whenever a player wants to log out of HAO, the only way they can do it is by going through the menu." Both Ruby and Klein were shocked.

"That can't be right!" Klein exclaimed, "There's got to be some other way out. Return, logout, escape!" he tried many different motions, but none of them worked.

"Told you so. And there was no emergency logout in the beta test either."

"No way! You're kidding, right Kirito?" Ruby asked. Kirito shook his head.

"I know! I'll just rip the nerve gear off my head!" Klein tried effortlessly to remove the helmet but to no evail.

"Don't bother. The NerveGear disables your body functions in the real world. It recepts all the commands you give from inside the game using an interface built into the rig." he pointed at the back of his neck.

"Seriously? So we have to wait around until someone fixes the bug?" Kirito nodded.

"Either that, or someone from the outside takes the helmet off."

Klein started to panic. "I live alone… what about you?"

"I've got my mom and my sister, and I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner time that something's wrong."

Ruby calmed down a bit. If Yang pulls the NerveGear off, she should be fine.

"Don't panic though. If we get out, I'll notify wherever kingdom you live in that you're stuck with the NerveGear on." Kirito suggested.

Klein felt at ease. "Thanks man, I live in Mistral."

"I'm still wondering why the GM's haven't made an announcement yet. They could just log everyone off and shut down the servers."

The air was suddenly filled with the sound of chiming bells. Soon after, Kirito, Klein, and Ruby were transported away in flashes of blue light and materialized back in the Town of Beginnings. They were not alone though. It seemed that every other player in the game had been teleported there as well.

"Kirito, what's going on?" Ruby asked worried.

"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito had a bad feeling in his stomach as he looked towards the sky. Hovering in the sky above were several holographic screens. All of them had |WARNING| and |SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT| written on them.

"The sky is… bleeding?" Ruby asked. Red liquid poured out the lines between the hexagons and was forming into a giant mass. Once it stopped, there was a giant man in a hooded cloak with seemingly no face looking down on all of them. Many people started asking questions throughout the crowd.

"Is that the game master?"

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is this an event?"

"Attention players. I welcome you to my world." the figure announces.

"What does he mean by that?" Kirito asked aloud

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."  
>Kirito gasped. That was Kayaba? The man who had developed one of the greatest gaming devices?<p>

"I'm sure most of you have noticed something missing from you main menus, the logout button. Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Hunter Art Online was designed to be."

"He's kidding, right?" Klein asked.

"You cannot log yourselves out of HAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerverGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life."

The crowd was filled with shock and awe. Nobody knew what to say. Some of them tried to leave, only for them to be stuck behind a force field.

"Huh, are you guys listening to this crap? He's got to be nuts, right Kirito?" Klein asked. Both he and Ruby hoped Kirito would say otherwise until he shook his head.

"He's not. The transmitter signals in the helmet work like microwaves, if the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain!"

"Couldn't someone cut the power?" Ruby asked, only for her answer to get another no.

"That won't work. The NerveGear has an internal battery" Kirito explained.

"This is crazy! This is totally crazy!" Klein yelled.

"Despite my warnings, the friends and family members of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game has 213 less players than when it began, both from the real world and from Aincrad."

"213?!"

"No way! I don't believe it!"

Many screens started to appear and float around Kayaba. "As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything including the deaths." Kayaba explained. Ruby looked and saw many of the screens and where the deaths took place. She was glad to see that a lot of them didn't happen in Vale. "At this point, it's safe to assume that the likelihood of another NerveGear is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following"

1. There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game

2. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever.

3. The NerveGear will destroy your brain of you are to die in this game.

Kirito gasped as he remembered the first time he tried to kill a boarbatusk in this game, causing himself to die easily.

"There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game." Kayaba touched the /Map\ on his intory and brought up a full scale version of castle Aincrad. "Right now, you are all gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor One-Hundred and you will clear the game."

"Why should we believe any of the crap your saying!?" one of the other players asked.

"No way. Clear the game? Even the beta testers never made it that far!" Klein exclaimed.

"Last, but not least, I've sent a little present in each of your inventories. Please, take a look."

Kirito opened his menu to find a /mirror\ placed in his inventory. He clicked on it and began to ser Ruby and Klein engulfed in a bright blue light. He was about to say something until his body was covered in the light as well. When everyone appeared again, they all looked… different.

"You guys ok?" he heard Ruby ask behind him. As soon as he looked back at himself in this mirror, the image of the dark-haired young man that was his avatar changed into his fourteen year old actual appearance. He had even changed to his actual height. Though he still had on his avatar's outfit of a blue and white long-sleeved shirt with brown leather chest armor and long dark pants.  
>Kirito looked over the mirror and saw a young man who had somewhat wild reddish-brown hair and the beginnings of a beard on his chin. He also saw a girl with black hair with bright red highlights looking at him.<p>

"Klein? Ruby?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah." The young man confirmed. "How the heck is this even possible?"

"The scan. There's a high-density camera placed inside the NerveGear rig." Kirito answered. "But I don't know how it could've gotten our height and body type."

"Hey, remember when you put the thing on it asked you to calibrate it by touching your body?" Ruby recalled as she did a small demonstration. "You know like this? Remember."

"Yeah, that's how it got our physical data."

"What's the point!? Why would anyone do this?" Klein asked. Kirito pointed back at Kayaba.

"I think he's about to tell us."

"Right now, I'm sure many of you are wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Hunter Art Online and the NerveGear, do all of this?" Kayaba continued. "Ultimately, my goal was simple. The reason i created Hunter Art Online was so that i could control the fate of a world of my own design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Hunter Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

With that, the hooded figure of Kayaba and his holographic screens vanished. There was silence for a moment, and Kirito looked down at his hand to see where his paper cut was from earlier. The silence soon turned into a mass panic that erupted in the Town of Beginnings. Kirito, Ruby and Klein quickly ran into a nearby alley as things started to go out of control.

"I'm headed out into the next village; I want you and Ruby to join me. If what he said is true, and i think it is, the only way we are going to survive in this game is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In a MMORPG the money you make, the xp, once the game starts up there is only so much of that stuff that can go around. The fields in the town of beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon of the grimm. If we head to the next village, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. And don't worry, i know all the paths and places we should avoid, Even if I'm level one, i can get there easy."

"Well thanks Kirito but," Klein started, "I've got friends in this game from the real world. They are probably back at the plaza somewhere. I can't leave them."

Kirito didn't like the idea of bringing more than two players with him. As it was, he knew he could protect at least one person. But protecting a group was more than he could manage at the moment. It would be his fault if Klein or any of his friends died.

"Don't worry about me; I use to run a guild! I'm grateful for you showing me the ropes, but I can't ask you guys to risk your lives protecting a group of strangers. Don't worry about me and get your asses to the next village without me when you can."

"You sure?" Kirito asked.

"I'll be just fine." Klein insisted. "Just do me a favor and don't die, okay?"

"Okay. But you better not die on me either." Kirito told him before Klein ran back up the alley.

"Hey Kirito!" Klein called, causing him to turn. "I gotta say your real face is a better fit on you than that old avatar you had. And you look a lot cuter, Ruby, with your real look."

"Yeah? Well I think that scruffy face of yours suits you a lot better than that other face you had." Kirito told him. "See ya around."

With that, Kirito and Ruby were left alone in the alley.

"So you're not coming, too huh?" Kirito asked sadly. Ruby was sad too. She didn't want to leave her new friend, but she had a job to do. "It's my duty as a huntress to protect those in need. Don't worry about me. I am the team leader of my own team at Beacon. Once I've shown people how to fight the grimm, I'll be sure to come and find you, ok?" Kirito couldn't help but smile, he couldn't say no to Ruby's cute face. "Alright, message me when you're ready and we can join up." He waived her goodbye and continued out of the alley. It wasn't long before he was out of the city. As he ran down the dirt path, images of his younger sister flashed through his mind.

'If I die in this game… I die in real life!' Kirito mentally realized.

Suddenly a wolf with black fur and bone-like armor materialized on the path and began to run towards him. Kirito recognized the creature as a beowolf, a fairly low-level monster. With a few tears in his eyes, Kirito unsheathed his sword. The blade began to glow as he charged at the creature.

'I will… survive this world!' Kirito declared as he sliced the grimm in half.

**Well, there's chapter one. I hope you guys and girls liked it. Message me if you have any ideas for this story. I'm always happy to hear some corrections that I may have messed up on and suggestions to make this story better, so you can put them in the comment. Also, sorry to all the WhiteRose fans or the lesbian Ruby fans, no Yuri or Yaoi in this. It will be following the SAO episodes and I will see where it goes from there. Also, the reason I didn't have aura in the game was that it would make hunters who play this overpowered, so it would give everyone a fair chance at survival. I also gave ruby her scythe because, well, she's not Ruby without it. I will though give her a new weapon to hide Crescent Rose later so nobody could find out if she was a huntress. Hunters, huntresses, and beta testers are going to have a hard time in the next chapters coming up. She will have a sniper rifle and a halberd as her weapons until the other players have caught up to her skill somewhat. I'm also thinking of ideas of a ranged weapon for Klein and Kirito. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Hope you enjoy HAO!**


	2. Chapter 2: the outside world

**So this is going to be a short chapter, but I'm uploading chapter 3 right after today. This is going to be kinda small and explaining what is going on in the outside world right after Ruby put on the NerveGear. Hope you like it!**

Yang and the rest of RWBY excluding their leader had just finished up their day in Professor Port's class. There was nothing but silence throughout the entire day as the events from the previous month had aspired. Yang Xiao Long is usually a go getter, someone who was rambunctious and always full of energy. She was strong and heard headed, she always seemed to be filled with joy no matter where she went, even into battle. But today, she felt nothing but sorrow. Her little sister along with 8,000 other players are trapped inside the brand new game HAO. People believed originally for it to be a hoax, they didn't believe a man like Akihiko Kayaba could do something like this, but they should have heeded his warning to the public…

_A month ago…_

Yang had just finished buying Ruby her favorite chocolate chip cookies from the local bakery at beacon. Her little sister needed some cheering up after not being able to play the newest VRMMORPG. She was heading towards the room when she overheard Weiss yelling at the top of her lungs.

"You dolt! What are you doing using my brand new Schnee brand computer to play your stupid video game!?" Weiss received no response and was becoming infuriated. Yang stepped inside to see Weiss parading around the room yelling as loud as she could, Blake with earplugs and reading a book, probably to drown out the sound of Weiss' yelling, and her little sister… using a NerveGear!? 'When did she get that? I thought they were sold out!' Weiss turned to see Yang come into the room and marched right over to her. "Why is our apposed team leader using my computer to play these stupid video games?" Weiss asked.

"I didn't even know she got one of those things. When I went to pick her up earlier, the store was apparently sold out and she couldn't get the newest game of the year. Ruby! When you're done, it's my turn!" Again, nobody got a response. "Oh right, the NerveGear disables all motor functions and locks you in the game." Yang said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. Yang looked over at the desk and saw something she couldn't believe. There was an empty HAO disk case laying on the desktop. 'How the hell did she get that? Ruby, you better not have been fucking lying to me when you said they were sold out so you could get extra time to play.' Yang thought.

There will not be anymore turns on my computer! You have probably taken up a lot of the memory on this thing just by playing this game! That's it, I'm unplugging her." Weiss went over to Ruby and was about to take off the helmet.

"Miss Schnee! Step away from Miss Rose this instant!" They heard a shout from out the door. Blake had removed her earbuds once she saw who was coming. They turned to see their headmaster standing in the doorway with a look of terror on his face. He snapped his fingers and within an instant, a team of paramedics and technicians came through the doorway. Now, Yang was getting nervous.

"Professor Ozpin, what the hell is going on?" Yang asked nervously. Ozpin could only look at Yang with a nervous look until he turned his attention to all of them.

"Team RWBY, I need you in my office immediately.' They all shared a worried glance with each other before they followed their headmaster. There was silence during the whole trip. None of them could speak their mind because of all the questions flooding around. But the number one thought they had was 'What's going on and why were the paramedics taking Ruby away?' That was what all three could think at this moment. They reached Ozpin's office as he played back the news report.

_**|Breaking News: Greatest game of the century holds 10,000 hostages from inside. The NerveGear, thought to be the greatest invention since toast, has now trapped thousands of players within the newest game Hunter Art Online. The director of the game, Akihiko Kayaba, the madman behind this, is at large now as it appears that this was his intention for the NerveGear the entire time. He sent out warnings to all the kingdoms on Remnant regarding the lives of the players. **_

_**Never remove the NerveGear from a player in HAO. Once the helmet is removed, it will send an electronic shock like a microwave and fry their brain**_

_**Do not tamper with the helmet, the same results will occur.**_

_**A player will live as long as they are medically treated and stay alive in the game. They must beat the game in order to leave it. If they die in the game, they will die in real life**_

_**Already 213 players have perished for those who didn't believe in Kayaba's warnings. We advise all throughout Remnant to not put on a NerveGear. If you see or know of anyone who has purchased a NerveGear, contact the local police and they will have a team of paramedics move the players into the nearest hospital. All we can do now is pray and hope that they beat this game|**_

Team RWBY was in complete and utter shock of the coming events. Weiss was frozen in fear, as she almost killed her teammate just a moment ago. Blake was in deep thought. 'How could anyone be so cruel? Not even the White Fang would do something as terrible as this!' But the one who took it the hardest was Yang. She was bent over crying out as her sister might die at any moment. The crying soon ended though, as Yang's hair started to flame. Her once lilac eyes had turned a dark red and the fire around her continued to burn brighter.

"KAYABA!" Yang shouted. She had blasted out the door leaving a trail of flames and singed walls as she made her way to the nearest gaming store in Vale.

"Professor, what do we do now Ruby is trapped inside that game?" Weiss asked. Ozpin turned to her and Blake and sighed.

"The only thing we can do now is hope. The technology in this helmet far exceeds my own. She along with the rest of the players will have to beat what is called castle Aincrad. It is a floating castle within the game consisting of hundreds of bosses and over thousands of dungeons. Ruby along with the other hunters and huntresses should be fine with the people who have beta tested the game when they are fighting the grimm. But I can't say for sure about the other monsters within the game. There are those that are based off of fantasy that no hunter has ever faced before. I'm sorry to say this, but all we can do is wait. For now, I wish for your team to take the week off and visit Miss Rose in the hospital. Miss Schnee, I'm leaving you in charge of Team RWBY. In the meantime, I think there is a raging ball of fire going throughout Vale right now that needs to be stopped before anyone gets hurt."

"Yes sir." They both aid as they proceeded out the door. Ozpin was glad that the school had no other casualties. None of the students would be back to their rooms yet. He played back the news reports on all of the students scrolls, leaving them a message not to put on the NerveGear. He sat in his chair with thoughts rushing through his mind as the news reports continued to play back.

_Present_…

Team RWBY made their way to the hospital to go visit Ruby. Many of her friends had left Ruby her favorite flowers all around the room. Her mother's coat was draped over her like a blanket. They ran into team JNPR on the way in, but they hadn't said anything. They just gave a nod and a reassuring smile and continued on out of the hospital. They got into the elevator and went up to the 11th floor. They reached her room and found it reeking with the smell of roses. Blake took the liberty of cleaning up the rose petals on the floor and to throw out the dead flowers. Yang cried for a minute, patting her sisters cold hands and made her way out of the room within 10 minutes to get Ruby some new sheets. The only one left at the moment was Weiss. She grabbed a chair and sat down next to Ruby's bed.

"Hey Ruby. We just wanted you to know that we all miss you back at beacon. Even team CRDL has kept their mouths shut. Can you believe it?" she chuckled "I came here today to apologies for all the things I have said to you, all the times I called you an idiot, or childish. I am the one who was an idiot. I couldn't get passed the idea that someone younger than me had become my team leader. But now, I wish I could take it all back. I wish I would have went with you, Blake, and Yang to those sports games, movies, and karaoke sessions. I wish I could have been a better friend." She began to sob. "You beat this game, you make it out alive, and I promise we can go have karaoke night with the whole team, even JNPR can come." She began to shed more tears and made her way out of the room as she saw Yang in the doorway with some sheets.

"Thanks Weiss. I'm sure Ruby would appreciate this." Weiss gave a nod and proceeded out the doorway.

"Hey Ruby, I brought you some more sheets!" Yang said as she proceeded to change out the sheets with warmer and cleaner ones. "You know, I heard that game was supposed to be really fun. I hope it is, at least you can have some fun in there." She replaced the bag in her I.V. and put a clean bed pan under her. "I bet you've made a lot of new friends in there, ones from all over the world. I also bet you've met some cute boys in there as well. You better introduce me to them when you get out. And even though it's a game, remember the birds and the bees talk." Yang smiled. Even though she couldn't hear her, She knew she got the message. "We're going to head out for today. We'll see you again in a couple of days. Oh, and Uncle Qrow says hi. He'll be seeing you tomorrow." Yang proceeded to the door and shut off the lights behind her. She turned back with a small smile on her face. "Goodnight little sister. Kick some grimm ass for me."

**Well there you have it. I'm kinda tired right now, I'll be sure to add in the next chapter tomorrow. I'll also mention that this takes place right in the middle of season 1. They are still in their first year at beacon. Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow.**


	3. Chapter 3: Beater

**Chapter 3: Beater**

**Hello everyone, I'm back! I can't express how sorry I am to keep you waiting. The last couple of months have been a bit hard; focusing for finals, getting sick with bronchitis, and that damn writer's block! But today, I decided to sit down, watch SAO again, and see if i can upload what you guys deserve. Originally, I planned to upload the christmas special on christmas, but my computer was being a douchebag. I hope you guys enjoy the next couple of chapters! Now, let's begin…**

**P.S.**

**I changed the rating to T, but I may switch it back to M later just in case it gets a little hectic. **

**Answering comments:**

**Jonesy757: I like your idea of having people see what's going on, but only a certain amount of people in remnant have that kind of tech. Kayaba was the smartest man on the planet so no matter how hard any of the most brilliant minds tried, they could never get the players out. But, I will have Ozpin find a way to find what Ruby's doing in the game, like a first person camera. Dual wielding is strictly to Kirito, just like in the canon. I will not, however, give him dual pistols. So many people give him that that it's now become boring. I will, however give him a pistol and something else when I post the next chapter. It will have to do with his dual wielding, so i thought it would be pretty cool for this firearm. **

**Warrior of the six blades: I appreciate your reviews. And also, I do plan to have Ruby as the fastest player in all of HAO. **

**Noob6: Penny will not appear in HAO when they are part of the game. I like how we never saw Penny's creator, so writers could make them anyone. I decided that Kayaba was the man who created her, so she can't enter the game under any circumstances. If she were to try, the nerve gear would destroy her body and she would be left inside of the game forever. So no, she will not be joining.**

**Guest: I thought about it, but I thought against it. Ruby is not a beast tamer. And the grimm cannot be tamed for they have no soul, only hunger. I would think, though that Ruby could help Lisbeth in her shop to teach her how to make hunter weapons when the time comes.**

_**December 2nd, 2022**_

The game had started a month ago, and already two-thousand players have died. Even after all this time, none of them have even made it close to even clearing the first floor. Even the beta testers were having trouble finding the boss room. But, today was different. Some of the strongest players are holding a meeting to discuss on how they should find and defeat the first-floor boss.

Kirito stood by, leaning his back up against the wall in frustration. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the boss, the only ticket for everyone to leave floor one. He watched as many players entered the small village with determined looks on their faces. They all had come in groups while discussing the situation, while he had gone never did find Ruby again, but she had sent him a message a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, there was a lot that needed to be done in the town of beginnings, and she never turned down anyone's cry for help. He understood, he was a solo player anyways. His train of thought was ended when he heard the sound of a horn. The meeting was starting.

Kirito made his way inside the meeting area and took a seat near the top. Once everyone was seated, he saw a man walk in with a blue tunic and dark brown armor. He had a sword strapped to his hip and a shield on his back. His most notable feature, though, was his bright blue hair. He began to clap to get everyone's attention.

"Okay people. Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started. So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. It's good to see you. My name is Diabel and in this game, the job I rolled is knight!" Diabel said proudly. This caused a burst of laughter to come from the other players.

"Dude, there's no job system in this game!"

"A knight?"

"How stupid can you be?"

Diabel sighed, "You guys want to hear this or not?" soon, the laughter died down and Diabel put on a more serious face. "Right, anyway, here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." The crowd let out an audible gasp.

"Whoa, are you serious!?"

"They found the boss room?"

"Where is it?"

"Of course, we need to defeat the boss and make it to floor two. The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in the town of beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players hear. Do you agree? Or not?" Soon, the crown began to look towards one another and nodded in confirmation. They began to clap and some even whistled at Diabel's brilliant plan. Kirito just smile from his seat. "Okay! Glad to hear you're all with me on this. Now, we're going to figure out how to defeat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six."

That caused Kirito's smile to fade. He looked around but found that everyone had already began to make their parties.

"A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group of multiple parties." Diabel continued. Soon, Kirito found himself alone. He looked around, but everyone had already joined a party. He kept looking until something caught his eye. he found someone sitting a bit farther from himself cloaked in a red hood. He couldn't see their face, but they were carrying a large black and red halberd on their back and were dressed in a red and black corset with a black combat skirt with red lining.. He also noticed that this player was alone and farther away from the other groups.

He scooted himself over near her and began to speak, "You got left out too?" They didn't respond. "Ugh, hello?" still no response. He scooted closer and noticed that he could hear music coming from her, and it was really loud. He tapped her shoulder and she jumped in response. Before he could say anything else, the player had removed their hood and he was shocked to find Ruby sitting their with black and red headphones on blaring music into her ears.

"Sorry about that, i just found out recently that they had music in this game and there was this really cool song I wanted to listen to and-" She then noticed who was sitting next to her. "Kirito!?" she screamed loudly. In a second, Kirito was hugged in a tight grip by a red blur and was knocked down. "It's good to see you! How've you been? What have you been up to? Are you here to fight the boss, too? Is that a new sword?" she asked questions rapidly. She then noticed that his face had began to turn blue and he was gasping for air. She quickly let go of him and he began to cough. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that. I was just excited because I haven't seen you in a while and I don't have any friends here and I went looking for you and Klein and I got lost for about a week and I recently heard that there was a boss raid and-"

"Ruby!" Kirito interrupted her rambling. She looked down embarrassed with herself. He took in a deep breath and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to see you, too. But next time, could you try and not squeeze the air out of me?" she nodded and then put on a smile. "so, you heard about the boss raid, too?"

She nodded again. "Yea, word spread to the town of beginnings that nobody could find the boss room. So when I thought I would go and try to find you and see if we could be a party and beat it. We would be all like Hiya! Watchou!" She said while displaying karate chops. He couldn't help but laugh, but then he noticed something.

"So what happened to your scythe? I'm sure it's better than this thing." He said pointing at the large ax on her back. She quickly shushed him and looked around to see if anyone was watching. She let out a sigh, "Yeah, about that… Crescent Rose is not like any weapon in this game. You can't even get any firearms until you're level twenty, and you can't make a hunter's weapon until you're about level 30. and even then, it's a weapon not like any other in this game. I talked to info brokers about it and apparently scythe wielding is a unique skill. I'm the only one who has it."

Kirito was a bit surprised, but before he could speak, Diabel began again. "Alright! Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-"

"Hold on a sec!" A voice rang through the crowd. Everyone turned to see where the voice came from. It was a short man with a sienna goatee, dark steel armor for his torso and he carried one long sword on his back. His most notable feature was his pointy orange hair. He hopped his way down the seats before he jumped towards Diabel. He slipped but caught his footing in the end. He let out a deep breath before he turned towards the crowd. "My name's Kibaou, got that? Before we get to the boss, I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the two-thousand people who died so far, yea?" The crowd began to nod. "Well some of you need to apologize right now!" he yelled while pointing his finger towards the crowd. Questions began to arise from the players wondering what he meant.

"Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who are the ex-beta testers, right?" Diabel asked.

"Of course I mean them! The day this stupid-ass game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests, too. They were the only ones getting stronger in here, also like the hunters! They didn't help any of us! Where were they when we needed them? Where were they when the thousands of us died trying to fight the grimm!? This whole time, they've ignored us like we're nothing." A scowl drew across his face, "Hell, I bet there's some of them here! Come on out! We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them give up their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us. Why should we!?"

Both Kirito and Ruby began to fidget. If this guy got his way, they would need to find someplace to hide. Before they got up, someone spoke through the crowd.

"Can I say something?" A deep voice rang through. Everyone turned to see a large man with dark colored skin stand up and make his way down. He was wearing a white shirt, with steel armor over it and a large battleaxe strapped to his back. Kibaou was a bit nervous as the large ma approached him. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou, right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the hunters and the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies death's because they didn't help them. And you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?"

"No, you didn't." Kibaou retorted. That's when Agil reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small leather journal.

"There were some people you met at the beginning of the game handing these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?" Agil asked.

"Sure I got one. So what about it?" Kibaou asked angrily.

"You know who were handing these out? The ex-beta testers." A small murmur started in the crowd and Kibaou looked at Agil nervously. "Listen up, everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lot's of players still died. And you want to know what else? Who were the ones giving out free combat training? That's right, the hunters and huntresses. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here because I want to learn from those players deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're going to beat the boss." After he was finished, he turned back and gave Kibaou a hard glare before both of them returned to their seats.

Both Ruby and Kirito let out a sigh of relief. "Ok, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diabel asked while taking out his guidebook. Everyone nodded in affirmation. "For info on the boss, it's all in here. The latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about. According to the book, the bosses name is Illfang the Cobalt Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions, the ruin cobalt sentinels. Illfang carries an ax and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a talwar. He can change his pattern of attacks, too." He closed the book, "That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the xp. And whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections?" everyone shook their head. "Good! We leave tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Meeting adjourned people!"

While the raid group was laughing and having a couple drinks, Ruby had kept to herself in the dark. She was currently trying to eat a cheap biscuit from one of the nearby stores. She hated it, she had no money to buy any good food and the biscuit was completely bland. And to top it off, everyone was in groups. She liked meeting new people, but she was always bad at making friends due to her socially awkwardness.

"So how do they taste?" She heard from behind. She gasped and accidentally dropped her biscuit. The durability in the object had reached its lowest point and it shattered into blue and green polygons. She pouted for the loss of her food before she turned to see Kirito behind her. "Mind if I sit down?" he asked. She scooted over and allowed him some room on the small brick wall that she was sitting on. Kirito reached into his pocket and pulled out a biscuit and was about to eat before he heard Ruby's stomach growl. "Sorry for scaring you back there. Here, you can have this one." he handed her the biscuit. She quickly took it and began to eat, but was reminded how bland it tasted and spat it out. "Try it with some of this." He opened up his menu and went to his items list. He clicked on something and a small jar appeared between them. She tapped her finger on the jar and her hand began to glow in a blue light. She moved her hand onto her biscuit were cream started to form.

"Cream?" She asked.

"Uh-huh. Got it from some farmer when doing the 'Heffer strikes back' quest. Go on, try it." He said. She didn't really know, due to the bad taste the biscuit had. However, her stomach thought otherwise. She took a small but at first and her eyes shot wide open and she wolfed the whole thing down. This was the best food she had in a long time. "Good, isn't it?" Kirito asked with a smirk.

"Yea, it was. Thanks! Do you have any more?" She asked.

Kirito shook his head. "I only had a little of it. Sorry." He then remembered something. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, why are you over hear when everyone else is out having fun?" He asked.

She sighed and looked down. "I'm not the best with meeting new people, in case you're wondering. I mean, I like to meet people and have friends but… a lot of people find me strange. Do you find me weird?" She asked with a pouty face.

He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, to be honest, you can be a bit awkward at some times." she turned her head back to the ground and was about to sob. "Hey, come on. Don't cry. I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's ok for you to be a bit strange, it just makes conversations more interesting." He said.

She lifted her head up and looked at him. "You mean it?"

He nodded. "Yea, it's fine if you're a bit of a dork" He laughed. His laughter ended with a quick punch.

"You're mean, you know that?" She frowned. Her frown soon faded when she saw that she hit him into a bush and she began to laugh.

"Yea, hardy har har. Laugh it up. Now, can you help me?" After another couple of seconds of laughing, she helped him out. He dusted off the leaves and she pulled a small twig out of his hair.

"Feel better now?" He asked. she nodded and laughed again.

"Yea, thanks. I needed that. Hey, I noticed your level's at twenty five. You got any firearms yet?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Haven't had enough time to get one yet. Most that I've gotten from monster drops were out of my level at the time, so I decided to sell them. Other than that, I also didn't find any interesting ones to keep." He said before he noticed the time. "Hey, it's getting kinda late. We should head to the inn for the night and get some rest. Tomorrow's a big day." She nodded in agreement.

_**December 3, 2022/ Floor 1: Forest field**_

The raid group proceeded through the forest field with caution. Grimm could pop out at any moment so they had to be ready. At the back of the group was Kirito and Ruby who were discussing their plans.

"Let's go over it again. We're the backup, so our target's going to be the bosses minions, the ruin cobalt sentinels." Kirito stated. Ruby nodded in agreement. "I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. Once I do, we'll perform a switch and you'll come in and finish them with your halberd."

"Umm... Kirito?"

"Yea?"

"What's a switch?" she asked.

He looked over at her confused. "Ok, level with me. Is this the first time you've ever really been in a party?"

"Yup!" was her response. He stopped and looked at her, dumbfounded. He sighed 'This is going to be a long day.' He thought.

Many of the raid group was gasping for air as they fought their way to the top of the tower. Diabel stood in front of a large door and addressed all of them.

"Listen up everyone. I've got one thing to say to you. Let's win!" Many of the players nodded. "Come on!" Diabel pushed open the large iron door. The room was completely dark and hardly anyone could see. It slowly began to light up as they made their way inside and that's when they noticed the dark shape up ahead Sitting in a large chair was a gargantuan red beast. It wore leather armor and had a blue tattoo on its stomach. On its head was an iron helmet where it's large ears stuck out. It sported a large buckler on it's arm and a giant ax at it's side. The beast's entire face was demonic and shaped like a hound. The room lit up completely and the monster sprang towards them and howled. It's howls were so loud that the room shook and many had to cover their ears. Lights began to appear on the sides of the monster and the cobalt sentinels began to appear. The monsters began to charge while Diabel ordered everyone to attack. The players roared and fought off the sentinels while the heavy hitters moved to attack the boss. "Squad A and C, switch in!" Diabel ordered. "Squad B, here it comes. Block!" Illfang roared and brought it's ax down but it was parried by Agil's own ax and Kibaou moved in to attack. "Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch. Everyone else, you fall back. Regroup and fight them. Squads D, E, and F. Keep those minions off us!"

"Yea, you got it!" Kirito responded. He ran forward and used his sword skill to knock one of the sentinels maces out of the way. "Switch!" he yelled.

"I'm on it!" Ruby yelled and twirled her halberd and brought it down in a vertical slash. The sentinel was no more and it burst into polygons. Kirito almost didn't notice one of the sentinels coming up behind him but he quickly parried it's attack and ended it. He heard Illfang roar again and he noticed that it's health had reach to the red zone. It quickly threw away it's ax and buckler.

"Stand back! I've got it!" Diabel yelled as he ran fourth to the large beast. 'I thought the plan was for everyone in the group to surround it.' Kirito thought. Before Diabel charged up his sword skill, he saw the hidden smirk on his roared another time before it switched to the sword on it's back. When Kirito saw it, he froze. 'That isn't a talwar, it's a nodachi! This isn't like the beta!' He thought before killing the sentinel in front of him.

"Wait, stop! It's no good! Get out of there!" His words, however, fell to deaf ears as DIabel didn't respond. Illfang bounced across the room, shocking everyone of it's great speed. It reached the point where it built up enough momentum before it shot down and slashed Diabel across his chest, sending him flying across the room.

"Diabel no!" Kibaou screamed. Illfang dropped towards the group and roared, making many of them flee. Kirito looked to see Ruby finish off the last minion before he ran off towards Diabel. He looked to see that his health was depleting fast and he was going to die if he didn't get anything.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Kirito asked before reaching into his back pocket and pulled out a healing potion. He was about to give it to him but Diabel pushed his hand back.

Diabel turned his head towards him. "You know… You were a beta tester, too, weren't you?" Kirito gasped and figured out what had tried to do.

"You were after the last attack bonus. The rare item. You're just like me, a beta tester."

Diabel smiled before his body began to warp, "Please, you have to… defeat the boss. For everyone here." Diabel let out his last words before he shattered into hundreds of polygons. Kirito gasped, he couldn't believe he was really gone. 'When this death game started, all I thought about was how I was gonna survive. Nothing else really mattered. But you weren't like that Diabel. You never abandoned the other players. You brought them together. You led everyone and you fought brilliantly. You tried to accomplish something I couldn't.' He thought before turning to face the boss. Many of the players were getting beaten around and he knew he had to do something. He tightened the grip on his sword before Ruby shot over to him, prepared to fight.

"I'll go, too." She said. He nodded and both of them shot them shot towards the boss.

"We'll hit him just like we did the minions." He planned.

"You got it." When they were the only two near the boss, Illfang turned towards them and charged up a sword skill. With a roar, Kirito used his sword skill to parry the attack.

"Switch!" Kirito yelled. Ruby ran fourth and made a horizontal strike across Illfang's stomach as it slashed off her hood. They kept using the same strategy and depleted his health down. Illfang used a rapid sword movement skill and Kirito managed to block all the attacks before he noticed that he left an opening. "Shit!" he yelled as Illfang cut across his torso. He screamed in pain and was knocked back into Ruby and both of them fell to the looked up and saw Kirito's health drain to the yellow zone before she noticed Illfang coming her way. He was about to bring down a strike on them before a large blur parried the attack. Agil had managed to get to them in other players roared and the ran towards the boss and began to fight.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health is back up!" both Kirito and Ruby nodded before using a health potion. Agil ran to the rest of the players, but it was no good. They were easily knocked down. Illfang jumped and prepared to strike.

"Watch out!" kirito shouted he charged up another sword skill and jumped towards the monster. "You're going down!" He yelled and slashed through Illfang's stomach. The monster roared in pain and fell to the ground with a thud. "Come on Ruby! One last attack!"

"You got it!" she replied. They ran at top speed and Kirito disarmed the boss as Ruby cut across it's stomach. With one more attack, Kirito slashed down in a diagonal line and the monster roared in pain. Kirito yelled as he ran the sword one more time through Illfang and a large shockwave of power burst through the air. Illfang glowed a brilliant blue before exploding into polygons. He did it. He beat the first boss. A large congratulations appeared above him, showing that the fight was officially over. Everyone in the room cheered as they began to level up. Kirito was still on his knee, gasping in exhaustion. He looked up to see a congratulations notice.

{CONGRATULATIONS!}

[YOU GOT THE LAST ATTACK BONUS!]

BONUS ITEM

(CLOAK OF MIDNIGHT)

"That was a great job Kirito! You were all like slash, slash, yaaaaa!" Ruby said while imitating his final attack.

"That was some fine swordsmanship. Congratulations. Today's victory is all thanks to you." Said Agil as he made his way over to them. The entire room was filled with cheers and many clapped at his heroic deed.

"STOP CHEERING!" Kibaou yelled from the back of the room. "Why' you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die!?"

Kirito was confused. "Let him die?" he asked.

"That's what I said. Admit it. You knew the technique the boss was gonna use! You could have told us! Then Diabel would have stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!" The room was filled with whispers, wondering if what Kibaou said was true.

"I know why he knew! He used to be a beta tester! Think about it, he knew about the bosses attack patterns,. He knew, and he kept it from us! And I bet he's not the only beta tester hear. Come on, show yourselves!" One of the players yelled. Many of the other players began to question each other, they didn't know if any of them were beta testers, except for Kirito. 'This is bad.' Kirito thought. 'At this rate, they are all going to turn on each other!' he gulped. He knew what he had to do.

He did his best and let out a maniacal laughter. "So you guys think I used to be a beta tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class with those noobs." Everyone was now either confused or angered.

"Wh-What you say!?" Kibaou asked angrily. Kirito got up and put on a smirk.

"You heard me." He said while walking towards Kibaou. "Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in HAO beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys were better than they were. But me, I'm nothing like those guys. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers, that's a fact. I knew about the boss 'cause I fought way more monsters with higher sword skills on higher floors. I know a bunch of other things, too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker."

The entire room was stunned. "Wh-What the hell? If that's true, you're worse than a beta tester. You're a goddam cheater, that's what you are!" The entire room was now yelling with anger. The players called him names like scumbag and asshole. Ruby was getting upset. She couldn't see why Kirito had said all of those things, but he was still her friend.

"He's a beta tester and a cheater. He's a beater!"

"A beater, huh? Yea, that's good. I like it" Kirito said as he looked through his items. "Ok, you can call me a beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore." He found the item he was looking for and put on the cloak of midnight. He smirked before he began to walk to the exit.

"Wait." he heard from behind. He turned to see Ruby with a determined face. "I'm coming with you." He sighed before he shook his head.

"You don't want to be near me right now. I pretty much have the strongest players hating my guts at the moment. You being with me would cause some fo that hatred to turn towards you. You can become powerful on your own. But when the day comes when someone asks you to join a guild, don't turn it down. There are limits to what a solo player can do."

She understood now, he took off the tension of the others when they were about to fight each other and he became the villain. But there's one thing she didn't get. "But wait, you're solo."

He said nothing and she soon noticed that his health bar disappeared from her vision. He disbanded the party. "I'm sorry." was his last words before he left her in the boss room.

**Alright! Chapter three is finished! Hope you guys liked it! Also, the other reason I gave Ruby a halberd and not a sword is that she has no sword experience and she likes to use polearms. And a halberd is the closest thing to a scythe in any weapon in HAO. Don't worry though, she will use it as her main weapon eventually. Also, I am going to spend all day tomorrow writing the next couple of chapters for you guys since you've been really patient with me and that I broke my promise. **

**Next chapter-**

**Chapter 4: Red-Nosed Reindeer. **


	4. Chapter 4: Red-nosed Reindeer

**Hey guys! I'm back for another chapter. Now, by majority rule, Ruby is joining Fuurinkazan. Now, I'm not making any promises that she's going to be there for all of HAO, but I'm not also making any promises that she's leaving it.**

**I have also changed the dialogue, making it easier to read.**

"**ANGRY OR IMPORTANT YELLING!"**

"Talking."

_Flashback_

"YELLING!"

"_Whispering"_

"_**Reading"**_

'_Thinking' _

**Now, to answer some questions. **

**jonsey757: Yes, Ruby has replaced Asuna. I find Ruby a lot more fun to work with and she's a lot more adorable. **

**Awwwwww: It's Christmas (at least in this chapter), So the group is going to make a minor appearance when visiting Ruby in the hospital.**

**Noob6: I have a full plan on explaining Kayaba's intentions. I will also hint that this is going to be a multi crossover in the future so expect to see some characters change due to things from other genres. Also, why would someone get anyone out of HAO? I don't want this to end, I plan to let it ride for the two years that they where stuck in the game. Also, the reason why nobody is really trying anymore is that a lot have people have died due to NerveGear tampering, so no one wants to risk another death. I do though have a plan in future chapters for the people at beacon to kinda see what's going on with Ruby, but I won't give that away yet.**

**Also, Kirito's firearm: I plan to save this for next chapter, for now, I've given him a 5.7 mm FN Five Seven like he had in gun gale. Now for Klein: It took me a while, but I got the idea from the gunblade in final fantasy: dirge of cerberus. He will basically have Weiss' guntana but it will be a steel colored blade instead of a black one. **

**Before I begin, I want to thank all of you for the appreciation of my work. I thought I was going to be terrible and just hand off the idea to someone else until you guys showed me your support. I do so much revision and try to make this the best fic possible. But without you guys, I wouldn't have kept writing. Again, thank you so much. Now, let's get started…**

**P.S: I was a little confused when going over SAO, apparently a year went by in the third episode, I thought it was just a month. Also, merry belated Christmas!**

**Chapter 4: Red-nosed Reindeer**

_**December 24, 2023**_

It was an entire year since this death game started, and already 2,000+ players have died. Many had given up hope and just tried to make enough money to buy a house from the town of beginnings. Some players used this as encouragement to keep on fighting to make sure the lives of the lost weren't for today was a special day, a day where players gathered together from all levels to celebrate one of the most renown holidays of all time. The time of giving, fun, warm cookies, and a jolly old fat man in a red suit.

Today was Christmas eve.

All the towns had their weather set to optimal settings for snow and every building was decorated in the most beautiful lights. Shops were filled with treats, the air smelled like chocolate, players were dressed in warm fur coats, and Christmas music played throughout the streets. Everyone was having one of the best days they had since the beginning of this death game. Everyone, except for Kirito.

**Floor 49: Mugien**

Kirito was currently sitting on one of the towns park benches. He watched with a stoic complexion as players ran by him engaged in a snowball fight. His gear had changed into a long black coat with blue stripes and a crescent moon symbol over his heart , steel plated armor for his torso, black pants, and a black undershirt. He was going to leave the bench in a minute until small footsteps came from his right side. He looked over to see a small girl with dark brown hair and eyes wearing a red undershirt, black pants, and a brown cloak. Her most notable feature was the six whisker marks that were on her cheeks. Her name was Argo "the rat". Like Kirito, Argo was a beta tester. She was good, but not in combat. Her specialty was information gathering. She earned her nickname for her short and rat like appearance and that she was the stealthiest info broker out there.

"I hear someone's been taking risks their level raising." Argo said as she took a seat at the top of the bench.

"You got any new info for me or what?" Krito replied.

"Noting worth charging you money for."

He sighed. "You give info brokers a bad name." He would have called anyone else, but Argo was the best in the business.

"This wasn't in the beta test, it's a first time event. How am I supposed to know what's gonna happen? All I know is that tonight on Christmas Eve, the event boss is gonna appear. He's called Nicholas the Renegade, and he's supposed to appear under a fir tree somewhere. The major guilds are searching everywhere for the tree as we speak."She said relaying the info. Kirito slightly shifted at the mentioning of a fir tree. he had passed one on his way here that seemed to emit a bright blue light. That would be his first stop. He slowly got up out of his seat and began to walk away from Argo. She caught sight of this. "You wouldn't happen to know where it is, do you?"

"Maybe…" he replied as he made his way out of the town square.

"Are you thinking of going solo on this one?" she yelled out to him, but he paid no attention and kept walking.

**Mugien: Kirito's Place**

It was currently 11:45 P.M. when Kirito returned to his home. It was a small place with very low lighting and no furniture except for a bed and a desk. He never really spent any time here except to eat or sleep. He walked up to his be and sat down, opening his menu. His current level was at 70, higher than most people on the assault team. They are a team of clearers from every powerful guild throughout Aincrad. They made it their job to beat the game and to save the lives of those in need. He was one of their best fighters, but had little to none renown from any of the other players since he was solo. Most of them paid no attention to him, but he had been given a nickname for his high level and expert swordsmanship, the black swordsman.

He began to take off and replace his gear with some new items he picked up. He swapped out his coat for a black one with white fur lining. He had also bought some new weaponry. He replaced his old sword for one with more damage and durability and added a FN Five Seven that he bought a week ago.

'_In this world, the dead can never return to life. I heard a rumor, though. If you beat Nicholas the Renegade, he'll drop an item that can revive a dead player. I'm going alone, and I'll probably die alone. No one will see me, no one will know. Nothing will be left behind. That's how I will die.' _Kirito thought. It was all his fault. They all died, because he lied to them; to Keita, to Tetsuo, to Sasamaru, to Ducker… to Sachi. He was the one responsible for the deaths for the deaths of the moonlit black cats. They were a mid-level guild, filled with players mostly in the twenty-twenty five level zone. They had invited him to join their guild months ago. He had saved their lives in a labyrinth when their strongest fighter, Tetsuo was injured. He kept his level hidden from them so that they wouldn't see him as one of the elitist players on the assault team. He regretted his decision soon when their leader Keita left to go buy the team a home. Ducker had decided that they should go to one of the higher level floors to gain some extra cash for some furniture. Kirito warned them, though, that it was dangerous and that they should stick to their usual hunting grounds. They of course, didn't listen. Ducker had led them through a labyrinth and ended up finding a secret door. It led to a small room with a chest in the center. Kirito tried to warn them that it was a trap, but it was already too late. The room was filled to the brink with grimm and other monsters from the game that easily overpowered them. They tried to escape with their teleportation crystals, but the walls kept them from leaving. They died one by one, and Sachi was the last to die. She said something to him, but he couldn't hear her. He remembered when he made it out, how he confronted Keita as he left his home and teleported to a nearby forest.

"_Your a beater. You had no right to be with us!" Keita yelled. His emotions were filled with both rage and horror. His mind couldn't take it the constant shift of emotions, he turned towards the nearby ledge and jumped._

'_That's right. It's my fault. My arrogance killed you. All of you. Of only I hadn't kept my true level as a player secret from anyone.'_

He followed the map he made from earlier of the forest, hoping to get to the tree first. _'I have to figure out a way to beat Nicholas. Then, I can revive Sachi, so I can figure out what she was trying to tell me.' _He stopped as he found the marker on his map. He looked up to see one fir tree sticking out of the top of all the other trees. _'And if it turns out she was cursing me… fine, I accept it!'_

He ran off towards the tree and disappeared from sight. He reappeared near the tree and kept running. Suddenly, he heard something next to him and halted to a stop. The sound had been from a team teleportation. He turned to see one of the assault teams smallest guilds, Fuurinkazan. They where small in numbers but made up for it in their fighting prowess. He instantaneously recognized the leader of the guild, Klein. Klein had grown a lot stronger in the game, taking on the appearance of a samurai. He wore a red coat with black iron armor held together by ropes, white pants, and his same old headband. He had a new weapon with him as well. Last time Kirito saw him, he carried a plane katana. Klein was one of the ten people granted with the katana skill in the game. Now, however, he carried a new and improved version of his old one. It retained it's shape, but became a hunters weapon with a rifle barrel attached to the blunt edge of the blade. Above the hilt was a revolver chamber that allowed him to store six bullets at a time. With the new blade, also brought new equipment. He wore two bandoliers in an x shape across his torso that held rifle rounds, same with his belt so that he was stocked for any situation.

"Wassup?" Klein smirked.

Kirito sighed. "You followed me?" Klein nodded.

"Of course. You're after the revival item, arentcha?"

"Yea."

"Dude, don't be risking your life for some rumor that could turn out to be bogus. Man, you can't be messing around in this death game. Once your hp hits zero, that's it. In the real world, your brain gets fried-"

"Shut up." Kirito interrupted him.

"I'm trying to get you to stop with all your stupid soloing! Come on, join up with us. Ruby worries about you, you know? the only reason she's not here right now is that she said she needed to be somewhere important. And with us, whoever gets the drop of the revival item keeps it. No hard feelings. Hey that's fair, isn't it?" Klein really did worry for his friend, he was out soloing too much. He needed someplace nicer to stay, some be by what Kirito had been doing was practically suicide!

"But then, there'd be no point. I have to do this. Alone." Kirito replied while grabbing his sword. Kleins team gasped and prepared to fight but Klein held up his hand, signalling them to stop.

"Think about what you're doing Kirito. It's suicide! And i can't let you die like that. Come on!" Before Klein could continue, the sound of another team teleport came from behind.

Each of them turned to see the members of one of the most powerful assault teams appear in front of them, the holy dragon alliance.

"i guess you were being followed, too, huh Klein?" Kirito remarked.

"It sure looks that way."

"It's the holy dragon alliance." said one of Klein's guild members

"They'll do anything for a rare item, no matter how shady!"

"What do we do?"

"_You bastards." _Kirito whispered. He prepared to fight until Klein unsheathed his sword.

"Screw these guys! Get out of here Kirito!" Klein ordered. "leave them to us. we can hold them off, so get going!"

Kirito didn't want to leave them, but he had no choice. He turned and ran towards the forest hearing gunshots come from behind. He picked up the pace and was soon at the front of the fir tree. It was tall, and glowed a brilliant blue. before Kirito could even check the time, he heard the sound of large bells and sleigh bells ringing from above. He had a quick second to move away from the falling object and he jumped out of its way. He gasped at the sight of the monster before him.

Standing at his front was a large giant with frozen blue skin. It wore a red and white fur coat and it's beard was a complete mess. It's eyes were bloodshot red and were facing in opposite directions. And on top of his head was a large Santa hat.

The monster let out a cracking shriek as it cracked it's neck. The name "Nicholas the Renegade" appeared above it as four health bars appeared on the top left of it's head. It reached behind itself and pulled out a large battleaxe and prepared to strike.

Kirito's eyes narrowed. "let's do this." He let out a war cry and dashed towards the monster.

It had been about twenty minutes since Klein's team held off the Holy Dragon Alliance. They were currently resting after holding back the guild and drinking all their health potions. Klein sighed in relief that they were finished. Now he just needed to find Kirito. Before he could even stand, he saw Kirito walking towards him with a depressed look on his face. _'was the item bogus?'_ Klein thought. He took another look, though, at Kirito's right hand and smiled to see that he got it.

"Kirito! hey!" before he could say anything else, Kirito threw him the item.

"There, that's the revival item." kirito said in a monotone voice. Klein tapped it and brought up it's information.

"Let's see. It says 'must be administered to affected player… WITHIN TEN SECONDS!?" Klein gasped.

"If someone dies in front of you someday, make sure you use it." Kirito said as he slowly began to walk away. Before he could get any farther, Klein grabbed the back of his coat.

"K-Kirito… Listen, stay alive, you hear? I don't care how you do it! just stay alive, to the end!" Klein sobbed. He let him go and Kirito left them in the freezing cold forest.

Kirito had made it back to his house and went to his desk to rest his head._'Why,' _he thought. _'Why did they have to die?'_ His thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a message. He slowly looked up and his eyes widened.

{GIFT BOX}

[FROM- SACHI]

He clicked on it and a small diamond shaped box appeared in front of him. He held out his hand and it floated over to it. He tapped the button on the top and the message inside began to play.

_**Merry Christmas, Kirito. **_

Kirito gasped as he heard Sachi's voice again.

_**By the time you hear this, I'll probably be dead. How can I explain this. Let's see… to tell you the truth, I never really wanted to leave the town of beginnings, and I knew if I fought with an attitude like that, I would end up dying someday. But that's not anyone's fault. That's something I have to deal with. Kirito, ever since that night you found me, you kept telling me I wasn't going to die no matter what. But if I got killed anyway, I knew that if I died, you'd blame yourself. That's why… I decided to record this for you. By the way, I know how powerful you really are. Sorry, I sorta peaked when you weren't looking. I wondered why you weren't telling the truth about what level player you really were. I wondered why you decided to fight with us. I never figured it out, though. You know what? When I found out how strong you were, I don't know- it made me so happy! I felt relieved. So even if I die, promise me you'll go on living, ok Kirito? Stay alive so you can see the end of this world and find out why it was created. Find out why a weakling like me ended up here. Find out the reason why out and I met, please. That's my wish. Looks like I still have time, so, seeing how it's Christmas and everything, I'll sing you a song. **_

Tears began to fall from Kirito's eyes as he heard Sachi hum the tune to Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. However, they were not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. The guilt had sort of left him, and she had a beautiful voice.

_**Anyway Kirito, I'm so glad I met you. And that I could be with you, even for a little while.**_

The last three words hit him the hardest.

_**Thank you. Goodbye.**_

**Hey everyone! Sorry for making this one kinda short and sorry for not putting Ruby in this chapter. But don't worry, she'll appear in and be a major part in the next one. Why, you may ask? Well it's-**

**Next Chapter- Chapter 5: Christmas.**


End file.
